Architecture continually evolves to meet societal demands. Recently, a global effort to tackle climate change, and to achieve optimum energy efficiency in buildings, has brought standards such as BREEAM and LEED to the fore. However, as scientific analysis and awareness of human mental health has increased, architects are once again required to place humans at the centre of the design process. This growing trend has led to the development of WELL Building Certification – considered the world’s first certification focused exclusively on human health and wellbeing.

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Videos

Researchers at MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab have recently developed an adaptable material that reacts in response to changes in heat. Known as Heat-Active Auxetics, the material functions in a similar manner to the pores on human skin, tightening and loosening based on exposure to various temperatures.

Contrary to most common materials, which tend to thin out while being pulled or stretched, this technology expands in all directions instead and completely shrinks when compressed. This provides insulation in colder conditions and added airflow and ventilation when it is warmer, all depending on the material’s porosity.

Rotterdam-based KCAP Architects and Planners have won an international competition to regenerate the ‘Sewoon District 4’ area in the South Korean capital of Seoul. KCAP’s proposal, chosen amongst eight finalists, will see the development of a sustainable mixed use scheme blending future adaptability with respect for cultural heritage.

New York City’s Barnard College has announced its newest project, the Cheryl and Philp Milstein Teaching and Learning Center, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM).

Serving as a new academic hub at the heart of the Morningside Heights campus, the 128,000-square-foot building will house a “new kind of library that incorporates technologies and learning spaces in an interactive setting and creates an inviting environment that benefits from green spaces.”

KAAN Architecten has been commissioned for the renovation and expansion of one of the Netherlands’ most renowned museums, the Paleis Het Loo. Responding to evolving purposes, the project scope involves the restoration and development of over 5,000 square meters of new space, including the House of Orange, the Junior Palace, and a temporary exhibition hall.

“The design, inspired by the layout and proportions of the Corps de Logis of Paleis Het Loo, incorporates all required facilities and spaces while expressing a grandeur fitting for one of the Netherlands’ most popular and visited museums,” announced the firm.

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Emphasizing a diverse combination of ecological, infrastructural and urban programs in their envisioned design, Istanbul and Madrid-based design practice Openact Architecture has been named the winner of the Bandirma Park Competition, which invited ideas to “introduce Bandirma to the world."

Titled ‘A Path of the Fields’, the winning proposal presents a layered approach to the revitalisation of a former military and industrial brownfield in the industrial Turkish city of Bandirma.

The area is defined by Openact as both “an open, interactive, collective and productive focal point locally and regionally” and “an idea factory in the city of factories”, allowing for the exchange of ideas between the public and professionals. By centering the park around a Design and Research Institute, the intent is to create an environment that will strengthen Bandirma’s socio-economic standing, and offer a new hub for the city’s future, while seamlessly integrating into the natural ecological identity.

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Studio Gang has been commissioned to design their first project in Canada, a mixed-use tower that will be located in the Toronto neighborhood of Yonge + St. Clair. The project is one of several commissioned by Toronto’s Slate Asset Management as part of a larger effort to revitalize the district through the use of public art, world-class design and vibrant streetscapes and open spaces. The area’s first intervention, an 8-story mural by renowned artist Phlegm, was completed last summer.

“Yonge + St. Clair is on its way back,” says Brandon Donnelly, Vice President of Development at Slate Asset Management. “Having occasion to bring Studio Gang’s first project in Toronto to the neighbourhood signals to the rest of the city that we would like to create something special here.”

“If it hadn’t been for Frank Gehry, we would have made a simple, straightforward concert hall where students play concerts. But if the space is there, and somebody so gifted, like him, is prepared to do that, then of course you have to do that” - Daniel Barenboim, Founder, Pierre Boulez Saal.

In this Facebook video, Frank Gehry discusses the circumstances of his most recently-completed project, the Pierre Boulez Saal concert hall in Berlin, and the significance of contributing a new venue to Berlin’s historic musical scene.

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Videos

Frank Lloyd Wright once described cities as both ‘our glory and our menace’. With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, architects are becoming increasingly interested in their origins. Many fields of historical, geographical, and spatial research are devoted to exploring the evolution of cities, revealing a set of similarities across the globe. In a recent video, Wendover Productions described a common set of characteristics linking some of our largest cities, six of which we have outlined below.

Taking the six factors below into account, where is the perfect ‘world city’? Watch the video after the break:

The City of Westminster, England has announced the shortlist for its first People’s Choice Award for the city’s best building from the past decade.

In an effort to engage the public in a debate about what makes a great building, the Westminster City Council asked a panel of architects, developers, councilors, and planners to shortlist 12 designs to be voted on by people who live and work in the city, as well as by visitors. Buildings for the shortlist were chosen based on its use of materials, purpose, and impact on the surrounding space.

"Brilliant architectural design should be recognized for all the fantastic benefits it can have in terms of health and wellbeing, sustainability, and the simple pleasure we all take from having such striking buildings lining our routes home, to shop and to work," said Cllr Robert Davis MBE DL, Deputy Leader of Westminster City Council. "The best people to ask about the impact these buildings have are those who see them day in, day out, and so I am delighted that we have been able to engage the public in a debate about what makes a great building and to promote design excellence."

The 12 shortlisted projects for the Westminster People’s Choice Awards are:

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Dubai’s newest mega-attraction, a 150-meter-high, 93-meter-wide picture frame structure dubbed the “Dubai Frame” is approaching completion after a nearly two-year delay, and is set for opening in the second half of this year. At a cost of $43.60 million, the new building will stand as a symbol of the city’s rapid rise from modest settlement to gleaming metropolis, giving visitors a panoramic view of the boundary-pushing skyscrapers from the coast of the Persian Gulf.

It also may stand as a symbol of something far less idyllic: intellectual property theft.

Hyperloop One has revealed images of its full-scale test track, called the DevLoop, for the first time as it prepares for its first public trial later this year. The 500-meter-long (1,640 feet) DevLoop is located in the flat terrain of the Nevada desert, just 30 minutes from Las Vegas. In its final form, the track will extend two miles between launching and receiving points.

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected 14 recipients for the 2017 AIA Young Architects Award. Now in its 24th year, the award was founded to honor young architects - licensed 10 years or fewer regardless of their age - who have “shown exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession early in their careers.”

It’s an age old question: How do you transport visitors to your Dutch-themed Amusement Park located four miles off the coast of Japan while also providing them with a place to sleep under the night sky?

Okay, age-old it isn’t – but it was the scenario facing the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo, Japan, who recently acquired a 420,000 square-foot-island off the coast of the Nagasaki Prefecture. Their proposed solution? A fleet of floating capsules capped with a glass-roofed sleeping chamber that will slowly float overnight to the island housing new adventure-type attractions.

The BIG-designed LEGO House has topped out and is headed toward completion ahead of its just-announced grand opening date on September 28. Located near LEGO’s corporate campus, in the heart of Billund, Denmark, the LEGO experience center will provide an estimated 250,000 yearly guests with a variety of LEGO-themed activities within its 12,000 square meters, inviting visitors of all ages to play and unleash their creativity.

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AIA New York has announced the winners of their 2017 AIA New York Design Awards, highlighting the best new projects located in the Empire State or completed by AIA NY registered architects across categories of architecture, projects, interior design and urban planning.

Within the four categories, winning projects have been granted either an “Honor” or “Merit” distinction. Each project has been chosen for its “design quality, response to its context and community, program resolution, innovation, thoughtfulness, and technique.” The winners scale in scale from temporary exhibitions to large-scale urban interventions.

This year 22 of the 35 winners were New York City-located projects, including the grand prize winner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s striking Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University’s medical campus. Continue reading to see the full list of winners.

Global higher education analysis firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has released in 2017 rankings of the world’s top universities for the study of Architecture & Built Environment. This year, for the seventh edition of the survey, QS has expanded the ranking to list the world’s top 200 schools, including institutions across all six inhabited continents.

For the third year in a row, MIT has topped the list, finishing ahead of the Bartlett School of Architecture and the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). Read on for the full rankings.

The Chicago Architecture Biennial has announced the first exhibit that will on display during the event’s second edition from September 16 to January 7, 2018 – a contemporary reboot of one of architecture’s most well-known competitions, the Chicago Tribune tower design contest. Sixteen young architects from around the world will contribute new versions of the iconic skyscraper that will be displayed as a series of 16-foot-tall architectural models in the Chicago Cultural Center, the Biennial’s main venue.

Global photography community and marketplace EyeEm has announced the winners of their Minimalist Architecture Photography Mission to find photos that best highlight “the beauty of minimalism in architecture.” Organized alongside art and design blog We and the Color, the competition saw photographers from across the globe submit over 45,000 images focusing on the color, lines, shapes, and compositions of contemporary, minimalist architecture.

From the entries, 20 images were selected as winners with a top 3 was chosen by German minimalist photographer Matthias Heiderich. Read on to see the full list of winners.

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Mies van der Rohe’s seminal Barcelona Pavilion is one of the most well-loved structures in the history of architecture, a de facto pilgrimage site for architects and architecture lovers around the world. Now, even those unable to make the trip have the opportunity to get a tour of the beautiful structure, thanks to a new virtual walkthrough produced by The Mies van der Rohe Foundation.